Inside one of Iran’s insane assassination plots

On June 30, 2018, Rudy Giuliani was set to speak at an annual conference in France, organized by Iranian expatriates, opposed to the regime in Tehran. Intelligence agents from the Islamic Republic were planning to blow up part of that conference.

European security agencies were tipped off on the June 30th plot by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service. They managed to thwart the attack just in time.

France and other European countries are trying to salvage their parts of the U.S.-scrapped Iranian Nuclear Agreement. The discovery of an Iranian terror plot on French soil might upend the whole effort, according to the Wall Street Journal, in a week that saw another foiled Iranian plot against expatriate dissidents, this time in Denmark.

The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Iran is targeting a group known as MEK, Mujahedin-e Khalq, the People's Mujahedin of Iran. The group's stated goal is the overthrowing of the Islamic regime in Iran and the establishment of its own form of government. The MEK has been an active political player in Iran since 1965 but fled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, like others who were vying for power after the abdication of the Shah.

The group has promoted the ouster of the Ayatollah and the regime in Iran ever since. This gets MEK a lot of attention from Iranian intelligence services.

"Daniel" aka Assadollah Assadi.

(RFE/RL)

Amir Saadouni left Iran some ten years ago and was granted asylum in Belgium as a member of MEK. Shortly after arriving, he met Nasimeh Naami, the woman that would soon be his wife. It wasn't long before Assdouni was approached by a man calling himself "Daniel," who worked for Iranian intelligence.

"Daniel" was really Assadollah Assadi, Third Counselor at the Iranian embassy in Vienna. His agency took orders directly from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and he wanted Saadouni to spy on MEK for Iran. Assadi offered thousands of Euros for the information he wanted — he also promised to make life hard for Saadouni's family in Iran if he didn't help.

Amir Saadouni, 38 years old, waving the Iranian flag of the MEK.

Saadouni agreed, of course. For years, he attended MEK meetings around Europe and reported his findings back to "Daniel." Assadi would grill Saadouni about the meetings, even revealing information that he could only get from having other spies in the MEK. But the money was good and Saadouni's family was safe. That's when things took a turn.

The Iranian agent ordered Saadouni and his wife to become regular visitors at MEK meetings outside Paris, ones who regularly hosted anti-Iranian speakers. One day, "Daniel" wanted more than information. He wanted Saadouni's wife to carry a makeup pouch containing explosives to one of the meetings and set it off there.

Investigators told the press the explosive was little more than a firecracker. It would make a loud noise but was unlikely to hurt anyone. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called it a false flag attack designed to end cooperation between Iran and Europe.

Saadouni and his wife were arrested in Brussels, along with Assadollah Assadi and one other, noted as an accomplice to Assadi. This is the first instance of an Iranian diplomat being directly linked to any kind of attack in Europe. Two Iranian dissidents were killed in 2015 in the Netherlands which resulted in the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats, but Dutch authorities have yet to charge anyone.

Assadi was recently extradited to Belgium to face potential charges related to the bombing plot.